Rough episode last week — early morning, long day of cooking, teamwork, mediocre-to-terrible food. Would the chefs rebound after Tom Colicchio scolded them and took away the $10,000 prize? We’ll find out! Spoilers in the comments.
1. It’s the Olive Garden review lady!
Our guest judge for the Quickfire is Marilyn Hagerty, the elderly restaurant reviewer from Grand Forks, North Dakota whose precisely worded review of the Olive Garden went viral earlier this year. Interesting choice, given that most of our contestants aspire to cook high-end food. Also, I absolutely cannot imagine what a collaboration between sweet Marilyn Hagerty and snarky Anthony Bourdain would look like. The concept boggles the mind.
2. What happened to our food pictures?
When Marilyn was listing off her top and bottom dishes from the Quickfire, they didn’t show pictures! What’s with that? We watch this show for the food porn, producers. Also, our attention spans have been destroyed by Twitter. So make with the reminder pictures.
3. Andy Dwyer and the House Bunny!
Marilyn leaves the room and two new people enter: Chris Pratt and Anna Faris, married comedians who are both from Seattle. The chefs are going to cater their welcome home party! No teamwork this time. Everyone makes one dish.
I can’t tell you how excited I was to see Chris Pratt there — he’s on Parks and Recreation, which is basically my favorite show ever. It’s a good thing I wasn’t a contestant in this challenge because I would have spent the entire question period asking Chris Pratt questions about my hero, Amy Poehler. ”What is Amy Poehler like to work with? Isn’t Amy Poehler amazing? What is Amy’s favorite color? Will you give Amy this collage I made about our imaginary best friendship?”
OK, enough about my Amy Poehler obsession. Let’s move on to this week’s winners and loser(s) in the comments.
4. Brooke pulls out the double win!
Her apple crostata sounded delicious, but her elimination challenge dish? Wow. Just wow. Lamb-stuffed squid with coconut milk and black rice? As she was describing it I thought there was no way it would work, but the dish was gorgeous, and as I thought about the flavor combination I could really imagine it being delicious. That dish made me want to eat at her restaurant, like, now.
5. Danyele is definitely going home … oh wait, it’s Eliza?
Nice work on the editing magic, producers! I was absolutely convinced that Danyele was going home. In fact, I was so convinced that I’m a bit confused about why Eliza’s dish was weaker than Danyele’s.
6. Last Chance Kitchen
Tom challenges Eliza, CJ, and Tyler to make a successful dish with pickles and carrots – the ingredients that sent them home. CJ and Tyler are now cooking on their own, so it’s a three-way competition for a single jacket.
To no one’s surprise, CJ wins this. I think he’s going to be really hard to knock out of Last Chance Kitchen, but he’s got a long way to go if he wants to get back onto the show.
So, six episodes into the season, where do the chefs stand? Here’s my take on the remaining contestants.
Bart – Seems like a strong chef but hasn’t wowed me yet, although the judges clearly loved his dish in this challenge and I have to give him major credit for not messing up elk, a protein that a lot of contestants have fumbled in previous seasons (and that Eliza got eliminated for this episode).
Brooke – A clear contender after this episode. I predict she’ll make the finals.
Danyele – She’s in her own head a little too much and seems aware that she might not be cut out for high-pressure reality show cooking. I suspect she may be going home soon — unless the editors are being tricky?
John – Also a likely finalist, if he can make it through Restaurant Wars.
Josh – Hasn’t really shown us anything all that impressive so far and has been on the bottom twice in a row.
Josie – I find myself bored by her now. I think she’s the next veteran out.
Kristen – Another really strong competitor and a possible finalist. Her food sounds refined and sophisticated, and she’s the only Elimination challenge winner so far who didn’t go home in the next episode!
Lizzie – I still love her accent and she seems like she’s keeping her head. But she was lucky she wasn’t on the bottom given the feedback we heard about her salmon in this challenge.
Micah – Hasn’t really made an impression yet. Seems like another good chef who doesn’t quite excel under Top Chef conditions.
Sheldon – He seems to have a fairly narrow culinary comfort zone, but it’s clear he’s really talented. I’ll be interested to see how he does when he’s forced to cook something without a Hawaiian flavor profile.
Stefan – He’s still a strong competitor, but I just don’t think he’s the most exciting chef in this group. He’ll go far but I don’t see him beating Brooke or Sheldon or Kristen cooking head-to-head.
Who are your front-runners? Anyone you’re rooting for at this point in the season?